In the past, in electronic apparatuses, for example, information apparatuses such as servers, several detachable modules have been housed in a shelf unit called a “rack” to form a single electronic apparatus. In such an electronic apparatus, in general, there are connectors deep inside the rack, and there are connectors at the back sides of the modules. When these modules are plugged into the rack, the connectors provided at their back surfaces are connected with the rack side connectors resulting in the rack and the modules being electrically connected.
Each detachable module is inserted from the front side of the rack, so it is not possible to visually confirm the connection state of the module side connector and the rack side connector. Therefore, in the past, two guide pins have been provided at the rack side board, while guide holes for receiving the guide pins have been provided at the back surface of the detachable module. Further, when attaching the detachable module to the rack, first, the guide pins at the rack have been inserted into the guide holes at the back surface of the detachable module. The guide holes, for example, have large diameter openings and use tapered slanted surfaces to guide the guide pins into the guide holes. If pushing the detachable module into the rack in the state with the front ends of the guide pins inserted into the guide holes, the connector of the detachable module is positioned at the position of the rack side connector and the connectors are correctly connected without positional deviation.
On the other hand, a connection device provided with a mechanism for detecting a locked state where the two connectors are correctly connected and an incomplete locked state by the passage of an optical signal is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-206183. The connection device disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-206183 includes a male connector provided with a plurality of pins and a female connector provided with receptacles corresponding to the pins. Furthermore, end faces of optical fibers are exposed at predetermined positions where the male connector body and the female connector body face each other at the time of lock. This connection device detects that the lock mechanism is completely locked when optical signals are transmitted through the optical fibers at the time of connection of the connectors and detects that the lock mechanism is incompletely locked when the optical signals are not transmitted or the amounts of transmission of the optical signals are small.
However, in conventional devices, it was necessary to provide inherently unnecessary holes or places not allowing mounting at the board in order to provide the guide pins, so the wiring on the board was restricted. Further, even if requiring that the connectors not become deviate in position at the time of connection by the use of the guide pins and receptacles, if the pins of a connector are bent from the start due to manufacturing defects etc., it was not possible to prevent the problems due to bent pins. Further, in the connection device described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-206183, even if incomplete lock of the connectors could be detected, poor connection due to bent pins could not be detected at the time of connection.